This invention relates to dispensers and more particularly to automatic dispensers for dispensing preloaded, sealed medication packages.
A dispensing apparatus capable of presenting serially the proper medication dosages at preselected times of day has many advantages over traditional methods of dispensing medication. Such a dispenser is particularly well suited to the needs of chronic medication users, e.g., the elderly, both at home or in an institutional environment. The automatic dispensing of medication at the appropriate times during the day will, to a large extent, eliminate forgotten dosages and will reduce confusion as to whether a particular dosage was taken or not. In addition, such an apparatus which dispenses only the medication to be taken at a particular time reduces the likelihood that errors will be made in the medication taken and will make overdoses more difficult. Such a device does away with the necessity of medication bottles and their clumsy safety caps which the elderly, in particular, have trouble opening if they are able to open the bottle at all. An automatic dispenser will be at least as safe as safety bottles since only a single dose is dispensed at a time, the remaining medication being held securely within the apparatus. In addition, an automatic medication dispenser offers considerable cost savings by eliminating personnel otherwise necessary to measure out and dispense medications. For example, in an institutional setting such as a hospital or nursing home a single person can preload the dispensers necessary for an entire ward for a week or more.
An automatic dispenser which allows the patient access to the medication only for a limited period after it first becomes available insures that the medication will be taken at the correct time or not at all. Because noncompliance with doctors' orders and patients' inadvertent errors are prevalent problems, a dispenser which recaptures any unused medication is extremely useful for later verification of compliance. That is, a device which permits the patient to retrieve the medication for a limited period only and then recaptures the medication permits a nurse, doctor or other responsible person later to verify that certain doses were taken on schedule, and that other doses were skipped.
The recapture aspect of an automatic medication dispenser is also invaluable for performing pharmaceutical research protocols in which the weight accorded a study depends critically on verification of compliance with the specified dosage schedule. In such a case, the experimenters can determine quickly and positively whether the protocol was correctly followed. In addition, an automatic device will be a very useful tool for studying the whole area of patient compliance with prescribed dose administration regimens. Currently, there are no generally accepted standardized procedures for making such an assessment of rates of patient compliance. The recapture feature in an automatic medication dispenser is also very useful when the automatic dispenser is used to dispense a diagnostic kit for use by the patient. For example, a patient might be required to test his urine by immersing in it a chemically treated probe. After this has been done, the patient replaces the probe into the device which will store it for later analysis by a nurse or physician.
An apparatus which dispenses preloaded, sealed packages of medication rather than tablets and capsules in loose form has several advantages. First of all, a wide variety of medications can be dispensed together without the attendant risk that some or all of such medications will become stuck within the device thereby causing a missed or incorrect dosage. Second, the use of preloaded packages will improve patient compliance because the patient must remove the package, empty it, and then replace the emptied package. The patient's having to replace an emptied package will serve as a positive reminder that failure to take the dosage will be discovered at a later time and will thus promote patient compliance. Dispensing the medication in envelopes will also allow specific instructions to accompany the medication. For example, the envelope might contain a warning to discontinue a particular medication upon the occurrence of specified side effects.
Automatic medication dispensers with timers are known, e.g., for dispensing tablets or capsules, such as contraceptive tablets. These devices, however, cannot dispense different groups of medication at different times--for example, a mixture of both tablets and capsules. Other dispensers are also known for dispensing at preselected times preloaded containers holding the medication to be taken at a particular time. These devices, however, do not have the recapture feature essential for compliance verification.
An object of this invention, therefore, is a dispenser which dispenses at the appropriate times the medication to be taken at a particular time and which recaptures any medication that has not been retrieved within an adjustable grace period.
Yet another object of this invention is such an automatic medication dispensing apparatus which is simple, reliable and inexpensive to manufacture and use.
Still another object of the invention is such a dispenser which can be used not only for dispensing tablets, capsules, topical ointments and other medication along with any special instructions but also for dispensing and subsequent storing of self diagnostic test kits.
Other objects and advantages of the invention disclosed herein will be in part particularly pointed out and in part apparent in what follows.